Not Breaking His Spirit
by daniel105
Summary: Yahiko dislikes the fencing style Kaoru is teaching him. Eventually Kenshin has to step in. Warning: it includes the disciplinary, non-sexual spanking of a minor.


This story is based on the manga series Rurouni Kenshin.

When I use a Japanese term that might be confusing I will include the explanation between brackets.

Warning: it includes the (disciplinary, non-sexual) spanking of a minor. If that unsettles or disgusts you, please, do not read.

_The Hitokiri Battousai was one of the main players in the Meiji Restoration, as his proficiency with the sword was unrivaled._

_Once the war was over, he vanished without a trace._

_Time passed and legends were formed about him, about how he was the strongest samurai to ever walk the face of this Earth._

_In a town near Tokyo, on the eleventh year of the Meiji [year 1878 in the Western calendar], there was a Kenjutsu dojo [swordplay school]…_

After the tragic incidents that had scared away the students before Kenshin's arrival, the humble Kamiya Kasshin Ryu [Kamiya School of the Beating Heart] still only boasted one student and one master. The master, or adjunct master to be precise, was Kaoru Kamiya, daughter of the now deceased school founder. The student was Yahiko Myojin, a brave but foul-mouthed ten-year-old kid. Sometimes it seemed as if his mouth was bigger than the rest of his small body.

Both of them were on the mat, clutching their wooden swords and glaring at each other.

The third inhabitant of the school, a red-haired guest, was calmly seated on a bench by the wall, watching them. He was still a young man, although his eyes had seen too much death and his hands had been covered in blood more times than he cared to count. His name was Kenshin Himura.

"No, no! Your grip as all wrong! Don't hold it like that!", Kaoru was saying.

"Ah, shuddap! Is this any better, you old hag?", the kid retorted, gritting his teeth.

"I told you never to call me o_ld hag_ again! So knock it off already!". The young adjunct master shouted.

"Oh, yeah? Try and make me! C'mon, I dare you! Or are you too weak to do it?", young Yahiko shouted back, not to be outdone.

"Why… little brat!", Kaoru seethed.

She feigned an attack and, when Yahiko tried to block it, she swiftly moved to the opposite side and gave her student's backside a stinging whack with the wooden sword.

"Oww!", Yahiko yelped in outrage, bringing back one hand to rub the seat of his training kimono. "Damnit!"

"That'll teach you not to provoke your opponents when you are fighting, particularly when they are more skilled!", Kaoru smirked.

"More skilled? I held back because I did not want to hurt you, you rat-ass!"

Kaoru groaned in frustration and turned to her guest in despair.

"You see, Kenshin?", she asked. "You tell him, because I cannot stand this anymore! His mouth is too dirty for me to deal with!"

"Hey!", Yahiko protested. "I'm here 'cuz I wanna get stronger! And how am I gonna do that if I'm fighting little girls all the time? Kenshin, you said I could be as strong as I wanted! You teach me how to fight!"

"My pardons, but the two of you are equals in tenacity", Kenshin amiably said. "Yahiko, you know I intend not to pass on the teachings of my old fencing school. I would prefer to merely observe".

The kid just glared at him.

"You belong with the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu", Kenshin told him gently. "The sword should be used to protect, not to kill. My pardons, but the _Sword which protects life_ will serve to make you strong".

"Like hell!", Yahiko shouted. "The _Sword which protects life_ is for girls and sissies. Real samurais don't bother with…"

"Cut it out!", Kaoru interrupted him.

"Make me!", the kid shouted back.

Kenshin sighed, rubbing his head. If he did not step in those two would spend the whole lesson bickering.

"May I borrow your student for a moment, Lady Kaoru?", he politely asked, standing up and bowing before her.

"Sure!", Kaoru said, at her wit's end.

"What for?", Yahiko simultaneously asked.

"I would like to have a chat with you", Kenshin explained.

"I don't want any chats! I just wanna learn real Kenjutsu!"

"My pardons, but you will learn little if you spend your lessons arguing with your teacher", Kenshin said, not unsympathetically.

The kid just stared at him mutinously.

"I don't want no chats", he finally announced.

Kenshin sighed. "My pardons, but you do need this chat", he said.

In one swift step he was beside the boy and, before Yahiko could react, Kenshin had picked him up by his waist and was carrying him as effortlessly as if he was a light sack of rice.

"We'll be back in a few minutes, Lady Kaoru"

"Lemme go! Lemme go!", the child shouted, kicking his feet ineffectually.

Kenshin just carried him to the contiguous room and, sitting on a bench, placed the boy in front of him.

"Now, Yahiko", he addressed the kid in a calm but stern voice, "do you think Lady Kaoru is worthy of respect?"

The child just glared at him, still indignant, so Kenshin went on.

"She nursed your wounds after I rescued you from the Yakuza [band of criminal thugs], did she not? She put a roof over your head, she feeds you good food, she buys you clothes, she is trying to teach you everything she knows… has she ever treated you unkindly?"

Yahiko shifted on his feet uncomfortably, staring at the floor and starting to feel guilty.

"But I wanna learn real Kenjutsu", he whined.

Kenshin gently brushed a rebellious lock of dark hair from the boy's forehead.

"What she is teaching you is real Kenjutsu", he said. "You can trust me, I know what I'm talking about".

The lad looked at him. The fact is that he trusted him. At least, he told himself, in fencing matters. He had seen Kenshin perform astonishing deeds with his sword in an apparently effortless manner. However, this _Sword which protects life_ thing…

Seeing the indecision in his eyes, Kenshin talked again.

"The times of bloodletting are over, Yahiko. The samurais of the future will not seek to kill their adversaries, but to disarm or disable them".

"But you don't follow the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu", the boy protested.

"No", Kenshin admitted, "but you have seen me fight several times. Have you seen me kill anyone?"

"No", Yahiko had to concede.

"Then, is it possible to fight properly even without killing?"

"Maybe so", the boy had to agree. "But why can't _you_ teach me".

"I follow the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu [School of the Sword of Divine Justice]", Kenshin serenely stated. "The only reason I don't kill is that I use a sakabato [a sword with its blade and its blunt edge reversed, so that it's not good for killing when used normally]. Yahiko, I do not wish to teach a fencing style meant to slaughter your adversaries. I have killed enough people already".

Yahiko looked at him, eager to ask him about the people he had killed, but knowing how reluctant Kenshin was to talk about his past. However, the man went on and the opportunity passed.

"This is a new time, the Meiji era, and if I were a child now I would wish to follow Lady Kaoru's school, not mine".

"I'm not a child", a thoughtful Yahiko automatically corrected.

"Of course you are not", Kenshin agreed, "my pardons for underestimating you".

The two of them looked at each other. Kenshin was pleased to see that the stubborn frown had mostly disappeared from the kid's forehead.

"But we still need to talk about the way you treat Lady Kaoru, Yahiko", the man said in an even-tempered voice. "Do you think she is worthy of respect or of contempt?"

The boy looked at his feet.

"Of respect, I guess", he grudgingly admitted.

"I think so too", Kenshin agreed. "Then, you will have to work on respecting her, will you not?"

"I'll try", the child huffed after a long pause.

"That's good. I will help you".

"How so?", Yahiko asked, distrusting.

"I will discipline you when you do not"

The boy opened his eyes wide.

"How so?", he asked again.

"I will spank you when you need it".

Yahiko took a step back, involuntarily intimidated.

"You'll beat me?", he asked, startled. Images of the brutal beatings he had endured at the hands of the Yakuza, who forced him to work as a pickpocket for them, were filling his mind.

"No, I will not beat you, Yahiko", Kenshin spoke soothingly, seeing the fear in the child's eyes and recognizing its cause. "I will just spank your bottom, to help you learn something. It will hurt, but not in a bad way. A couple of hours after it you will have forgotten the pain, although hopefully you won't have forgotten the lesson".

The boy looked at him with big, fawn-like eyes. He felt suddenly smaller, his wilfulness and bravado momentarily forgotten. He seemed on the verge of fleeing and, had it been anybody but Kenshin the one to threaten him thusly, he would have done so. However, in contrast with the terrible effectivity of his swordplay, the red-haired samurai seemed to have an air of sincerity and kindness that made Yahiko feel safe around him. Before his mother died, the child remembered, she also used to spank him when he was bad. But he had been a small child then! Now he was almost a man, ten years old!

"But I don't want a spanking", he whined.

"I know. And I don't want to spank you. But you _do_ need one, you know?"

Seeing that the kid was too involuntarily frozen to answer or react, the man reached with his arm and grabbed his arm, gently making him approach his bench.

"Yahiko, I'm going to spank you for being disrespectful to Lady Kaoru", Kenshin regretfully informed him. "It will hurt, but I promise you that it will not hurt in a bad way, so you don't need to be so very scared".

"I'm not scared", Yahiko argued, his voice sounding like the whine of a smaller and frightened child.

Recognizing his sudden vulnerability, Kenshin talked and moved very quietly, so as not to startle him. He guided him beside his lap. However, before making him lie over it, he remembered something.

"My pardons, but I will need your bottom bared for this", he explained, unfastening the front of the kid's pants and letting them fall down as he turned him over his knees.

Yahiko found himself lying over Kenshin's lap, feeling a cool current of air on his naked bottom.

"You make me feel disappointed when you talk to Lady Kaoru that way," Kenshin scolded him. "You know better. You are so much better than that…"

The boy felt tears get to his eyes when he heard Kenshin say he was disappointed in him. He so much wanted to impress him.

"I'm sorry!", he whimpered.

"I know you are", Kenshin acknowledged, raising his hand. He noticed the faint pink mark left on Yahiko's bottom by Kaoru's wooden sword, and it was soon joined by a pink handprint as he swatted the small boy's exposed buttocks.

Yahiko, whose pride had made him go through cruel beatings without shedding a tear, now cried like the small kid he was. Fifteen firm smacks later, his whole bottom was painted in a uniform cue of pink.

When it was over, he whimpered as Kenshin helped him stand up and rearranged his clothes, before engulfing him in a hug.

"It's over, it's over. Shh, don't cry any more", Kenshin whispered near his ear, as Yahiko buried his head in the man's tunic and wept in it. All in all, it probably had not been much of a spanking, but from the boy's reaction Kenshin judged that it had been enough. The objective was teaching something to the child, not breaking his spirit.

Kaoru stealthily stepped away from the door, brushing a tear from her own eye. She had not meant to spy, but she had been worried when Kenshin took Yahiko from the practice room. No matter how obnoxious the kid could sometimes get, he remained a small child, a child who had been through too many hardships and misfortunes but still had a good heart, even though he knew how to get on her nerves.

Unlike Yahiko, she knew of the man's past. He had confessed it to her when she invited him to stay at the school. Kenshin may have treated her nobly and gently in the few weeks they had known each other, but during the war he had been the Hitokiri Battousai, the undefeatable samurai killer working for the Meiji government, the one who passed like a storm of death among his strongest enemies to make the Restoration possible. He may have given up killing, but could he possibly understand how to treat a small child? Wouldn't he lose his patience and lash at him?

Apparently he could and apparently he wouldn't. With surprising kindness and, yes, even tenderness, he had explained to Yahiko his mistakes and had disciplined him, instead of terrorizing him.

Minutes later, when Yahiko was more composed, Kenshin released him from his hug and tried to dry his tears with a handkerchief.

The boy, suddenly self-conscious, brushed his hand away.

"It's all right, I was not crying", he informed him in a dignified manner, cleaning the traitorous tears from his face with his sleeve.

"I see", Kenshin commented with a small smile.

"You will not tell Lady Kaoru, will you?"

"Tell her what?", Kenshin asked, even though he knew what the boy was referring to.

"You know. That you sp… eh… punished me".

Kenshin, with the senses of a samurai, had heard Kaoru near the door, but he saw no need to embarrass the child by telling him so.

"I won't tell her anything", he agreed. "Do you feel ready to return to your lesson with her or would you prefer to cancel it?".

Yahiko looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Of course I'm ready to return. I need to learn, to be the strongest samurai ever".

Kenshin nodded.

"You certainly have the needed determination", he said. "But Yahiko…"

"Huh?"

"When we return. Isn't there something you should say to her?"

The boy looked at him aghast.

"You want me to apologize to her?"

"You look as if I was asking you to do something dreadful," Kenshin grinned. "Apologizing when you make a mistake is nothing to be ashamed on. Quite the contrary." Seeing Yahiko's unconvinced expression, he ruffled his hair and added, "just look at me, all right? I'll show you how it's done".

They found Kaoru in the training room.

"My pardons, Lady Kaoru", Kenshin said, bowing to her. "I would like to apologize for interrupting your class". Kaoru smiled at him and Kenshin added, "There's something Yahiko would like to tell you too".

Feeling their eyes on him, the boy blushed.

"Er… I would like to apologize too, Lady Kaoru", he said, with a clumsy bow. "You know… for being disrespectful and all".

"I accept your apology, Yahiko", Kaoru beamed at him. "And I apologize too for not always being patient enough".

"Eh… yes, thank you", Yahiko awkwardly said. Then a mischievous grin got to his face. "Sometimes you _are _an old hag, though." Seeing the shocked Kenshin step towards him, he quickly took a step back, protecting his bottom with his hands. "I was just joking. You know, a joke! I wasn't being disrespectful, not really!", he tried to explain.

The two adults looked at each other and, to his relief, they started laughing.

**The end**


End file.
